humble canvas

i've been painting up more bags. one rather large grocery bag from brighter day (which i don't really think i like after all), and one small bag from fabrika. i especially like the minty blue sewing machine.

towering above them all

well, i received my newest spindle a lot faster than i thought! arriving in the mail on monday, i was able to ply the 1.4 oz of yak/silk singles i had just finished; it would have been a very near thing if i had to ply it on the lark (winding the plied yarn onto the whorl creates a lot more air between layers than singles, so the same amount is nearly double the volume when plied). the swan's shaft is maple, and the whorl is cocobolo. i won't have to make a spindle cosy for it though, as it's a little too big to make travel easy. so, i've started work on a cosy for the kuchulu instead.

leaps and bounds

me wee little cactus. it's slowly growing larger week by week. i wonder how big it shall become?

sewing for utility purposes

usually i store and transport my drop spindles and fiber in a lantern moon basket i bought many years ago for my knitting. but then i thought it perhaps a little unwieldily for just carrying one spindle and some fiber which could easily fit in my purse. so, i devised and sewed a spindle cosy which could protect my spindle while it is in use, and so i could keep it in my purse unharmed by the other things lurking in there. it's weird actually that someone else hadn't already thought of a spindle cosy, they're very useful things really. there are egg cosies, and tea cosies, and though they're meant for keeping things warm, other things like sewing machine cosies are for protecting.

going with the purple and orange color scheme of the basket and knitting needle case, i used a pale blush silk, an orange shot cotton, and purple thread. the sides are padded with quilting batting and created separately, then bookbinding stitched together to form a pyramid, with the top left unsewn so the shaft cord can come through to aid with carrying. the cord is a kumihimo strap i had bought while in japan that could be attached to a cell phone; it slips on easily to the notch in the top of the spindle shaft. i'm really pleased that the colors matched so well; until this point i really didn't know what i wanted to use it for.

the bottom opens up and you place the spindle inside, drawing the strap through the opening at the apex. then securing the bottom flaps with buttons and a needle laced latch, your spindle and spun yarn is safe and secure from knocks and bumps.

i had sized the cosy based on the jay drop spindle, but i'm thinking it could easily fit the larger swan drop spindle as well. i'll know in a week or so. i'm thinking the idea for this came from looking at the new tea triangles which are slowly replacing tea bags. yum, tea...

idleness, not really

i've managed to become busy in the last few weeks. making odds and ends art with washi tape, painting my toenails in an amazing green-gold polish, gouache painting another shopping bag, potting a teeny tiny cacti baby i found hidden in amongst larger brethren, sewing a tea cozy, knitting an extension onto my stainless steel scarf, watching the avengers (had to catch up on some of the movies leading up to it as well), sewing a linen shoulder bag, restocking my japanese tea, giving meiko a bath, going to a dayspa/hair convention in orlando...

that now, i feel like doing exactly what nala is doing.